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Among his many designs were some for which he retouched existing cars, such as here with the stillborn Shelby Series 2. Photo by Mark Vaughn

Automotive designer Tom Tjaarda: 1934-2017

He’s the man behind some of your favorite cars

June 5, 2017

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Tom Tjaarda, an American who moved to Italy when he was just out of college and who designed some of the coolest and most iconic sports cars the world has ever known, died Friday, June 2 after a long illness, in his adopted home of Turin, Italy. He was 82.

Tjaarda was born July 23, 1934 in Detroit to a Dutch immigrant father and American mother. His father, Joop Tjaarda, was a designer at Ford whose early drawings are credited with leading to what became the Lincoln Zephyr. Tom Tjaarda went to the University of Michigan and studied architecture. For a senior project, instead of doing a building he designed a car, which irked his architecture professor but led to an internship at Ghia and a lifetime of designing cars instead of buildings.

Tjaarda moved to Turin in 1958 and his first project was the Innocenti 950. From there he went to Pininfarina -- imagine doing that two years out of college -- where he fired off the Corvette Rondine, Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 and the Fiat 124. All of those are classics -- a Rondine sat in the Autoweek booth at SEMA one year, a particularly good year for us. He also did the 365 GT California Spyder while at Pininfarina, along with the DeTomaso Longchamps.

Lancia Flaminia Photo by Mark Vaughn

Tjaarda is credited with designing 84 cars, by one count; some were more mainstream than the ones listed above, but all had Tjaarda’s unique flair, if somewhat more subtle. He is credited with the original Ford Fiesta in 1972, the Lancia Y10, the Seat Rondo and even the Ford Maverick. He had a hand in retouching some existing classics for various makers, including a Pininfarina take on the Mercedes 230 SL Pagoda and a 1969 Ford Torino Talladega. He even tuned the look of what was to be the Shelby Series 2 (production of which never came about).

We got to spend an hour with Tjaarda in Carmel while one of the Series 2 executives enthusiastically trumpeted the merits of that soon-to-be-stillborn revival. Tjaarda seemed to enjoy the chance to work on the Shelby and smiled about the car the whole time we were there talking about it. He was unpretentious and happy to be discussing design.

“Tom Tjaarda was the last gentleman designer,” said Tom Matano, the executive director of the School of Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. “His design has a quiet elegance and impeccable balance.”

"While he was known for some of the most iconic designs ever, it is more poignant to me that he was one of the kindest mentors I've been lucky enough to know," said Acura executive creative director Dave Merrick. "He loved the design process. He will truly be missed."

Tjaarda was honored with a special tribute of his cars at Pebble Beach and at Concorso Italiano in 1997 and presided over a meeting of the DeTomaso Pantera club at Concorso in 2005.

If you happen to be in Turin today -- Monday, June 5 -- services will be held at the beautiful Chiesa della Crocetta, corso Einaudi 23 – 10129 Torino TO at 10 a.m.